


Strange Events

by Subjective_Beauty



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Morty Is Not Okay, Mystery, Revenge, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-26
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-12-20 02:11:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11911047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Subjective_Beauty/pseuds/Subjective_Beauty
Summary: Morty was kidnapped and tortured by his evil counterpart. Six months later he is dumped back onto the Smith family's doorstep, broken and not the same boy he used to be. But he's back home now and it's all over. Or is it?





	1. Before

**Author's Note:**

> I know, I know. I should be updating my other story instead of writing this one, but this idea was just so unrelenting. Now I have two stories to consume all my spare time!

Morty opened the door of Rick's dinky spaceship and jumped out, holding a pair of grappling shoes in one hand and a large heavy-duty sack in the other. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon back on Earth and Rick had decided the two of them were going to make a quick trip to dimension 35-C to harvest some more Mega Seeds for the scientist's research. Morty heard Rick step out of the ship and then the beep of its security system being activated and looked over to the man, waiting for directions. The last time he was here was two years ago, when he was 13 years old, and he didn't have the slightest clue which way the Mega Trees were, but he did remember it was a fair distance away from where they could safely land their ship. This planet featured many tar pits in which the large creature who inhabited this place laid their eggs, so they couldn't just park anywhere. Or so Rick had told Morty.

Rick held nothing in either of his hands, preferring to leave the menial work for Morty. Dressed in his usual lab coat, blue shirt, brown slacks and already wearing his grappling shoes, the man pointed vaguely towards the direction the front of the ship was facing and said, "C-Come on, Morty, we - we haven't -ERRRRP- got all day, let's go," and started walking in the direction he'd been pointing, Morty following obediently behind him.

"S-s-so, how many of th-these seeds d'you think we'll be getting, Rick?" Morty asked curiously. He'd assumed it would be a lot more than last time, as Rick had instructed him to grab the large sack from one of the garage cabinets before they'd left. He hoped that Rick wouldn't use up all the charge in the portal gun like last time, as he didn't want to have to smuggle any of the seeds past interdimensional customs this time. He didn't know if his rectum could take that kind of treatment again.

"A wh-whole - a bunch of them, Morty. I wanna try and fill the whole sack this time. Y'know, Morty, Mega Seeds have a really -ERRRP- a really long shelf-life, as long as you know how to store them pr-properly. I-I got better things to do than - than coming to this dump every time I need a new one," Rick answered, still slightly ahead of Morty and not bothering to look back. Rick's strides were much lengthier than Morty's due to the man's longer legs, and Morty had to almost jog to keep up. It wasn't an easy task either, as they had entered a heavily forested area and the ground was an uneven mess of tree roots and slithering vines. He'd almost triped a few times already, the vines trying to grasp his ankles and pull him off into the trees.

"Jeez, Rick, d'you think you co-could maybe slow down a little bit? These vine things keep tr-trying to grab my feet and I'm not as fast as you, y'know," Morty asked, imploringly.

Rick sighed irritably and kept going at his fast pace. Morty frowned in irritation also, wishing his grandpa would stop being a such jerk and just slow down.

"C-come on, man. I-I'm gonna trip over and break my leg o-or something. C-can you at least do something about the stupid vines?" Morty asked, his tone frustrated.

"We-we're almost out of the forest, Morty. St-stop whining for once and try and a-at least pretend you’re not completely useless," Rick answered, still not looking back or slowing his pace.

Morty huffed angrily, muttering about how unfair this was and how it would be _him_ who would be doing all the work once they were there anyway, so the least the asshole scientist could do was wait for him to catch up.

They eventually made their way out of the dense forest, Morty managing to not be dragged off by the predatory vines. Rick slowed down and eventually stopped to look around, finding his bearings. Morty took the brief respite to catch his breath and walk up so he was standing next to Rick. The boy looked around too, taking in the view. There were rocky cliffs and mountains all around them, as well as a few tar pits, void of eggs thankfully. Morty didn't want to be eaten by a nesting mother monster today, thank you very much.

"Th-the trees will be at the bottom of one of the cliffs, M-Morty. We'll ju-just have to look around until we find some that haven't already been stripped," Rick said, heading off again.

Morty followed behind, lagging a bit on purpose. He thought maybe if he checked out some of the cliffs that Rick had missed, he might find the trees before the surly scientist. Morty wanted to prove he was useful for more than his just ability to carry sacks and shove seeds up his butthole.

Wandering away from Rick a little bit, Morty spotted a ledge partially hidden by some shrubbery. There were prickly bushes all around this place. He quickly glanced over at his grandpa, who had found his own ledge and was turning on his grappling shoes to have a closer look at the trees at the bottom, hoping to spot some fruitful ones. Morty decided Rick was busy with his own thing and wouldn't notice him missing for a few minutes, so he set off to investigate the hidden cliff edge.

Reaching the shrubbery, Morty pushed aside the spikey branches and lent over to get a look at the valley below. He thought he could see the tops of some Mega Trees and was about to turn on his grappling shoes in order to get a closer look when he heard a series of quick scurrying sounds coming from the area to his right. Head quickly turning towards the source of the noise, Morty saw a giant feathery lizard scurrying up the side of the cliff ledge, heading strait for him. The monster had its mouth open threateningly and Morty could see a blue tongue framed by rows and rows of very shape looking teeth.

Throwing himself back, Morty launched himself away from the cliff-face. He heard the creature's claws scraping itself up and over the ledge Morty had just been standing on. _This thing is fast,_ Morty thought to himself, starting to panic. Shooting out of the bushes, the creature looked around, it's big eyes squinting and focused, until it saw Morty standing a little bit away from it. Morty turned and fled, yelling out for Rick to come and save him.

The terrified boy could hear the creature's scraping claws getting closer with every second, so he threw himself through a cluster of shrubbery, hoping to lose it. Stumbling his way through the thick underbrush, Morty thought he may have lost the beast as he could no longer hear it. Slowing down, he turned around, still backing away, and watched the path he had come from, looking for any sign of movement.

Suddenly, one of Morty's feet got caught and down he went, landing on something wet and moving. Panicking even more now, Morty tried to yank his hand out from the tar pit he had just landed in, but he found he was stuck far too well to extract himself.

"RIIIIIICK!!! RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!" screamed Morty, starting to cry. He could feel the sand pulling him further into the ground, unable to pull his hand or lower body free.

To make matters worse, his cried for help had attracted something other than what he had been hoping for. Out of the bushes scurried the mean-looking lizard thing, it's eyes locked on Morty's wriggling form. Morty didn't know what to do. He was going to die in a pile of tar or be eaten by a bird-spliced-lizard. _Possibly both,_ he thought to himself, _This could be one of the animals that lays its eggs in tar pits._

Morty looked down and saw the tar had reached his waist; but, just as he was about to scream out to him again, Morty saw Rick push his way out of one of the larger bushes, looking around angrily.

"Rick! Over here!" Morty yelled, waving his one free hand to catch the man's attention. Rick's eyes landed on Morty a second later before moving over to take in the sight of the predator lizard. Reaching into his lab coat, Rick pulled out his laser pistol and shot it at the lizard, killing the animal instantly. The man strode over to the edge of the tar pit, shoving his pistol back into one of his inside pockets as he went.

Reaching his hand out to Morty, Rick said, "Gr-grab hold of my hand, you idiot. How - Honestly, how do you even -ERRRP- even get yourself into these situations, Morty, Je-Jesus."

Ignoring the question, Morty quickly reached out and grabbed Rick's hand, grasping as hard as he could. With one strong pull, Rick managed to pull Morty's torso out of the tar, along with his trapped hand. With another pull, he had freed Morty completely and let the boy fall to the ground at his feet, covered in sticky, black tar.

Morty’s arm hurt from the pulling and he tried to take a few calming breaths before struggling to his feet. His clothes were ruined and glued to his body, weighing him down considerably. The fingers on his left hand kept sticking together and he now realised just how foul the gooey substance smelled.

Rick looked down at him, taking in the dejected expression Morty wore and knelt down on the ground before the boy. Pulling a glass vial from his coat pocket, he poured the white serum inside of it over Morty's grappling shoes, watching the tar bubble and dissolve into nothing. Once the vial was empty, Rick threw it aside and pressed the power button on the side of Morty’s shoe. Morty felt the shoes activate and was surprised they had managed to do so after the tar.

"Alright, Mort. I th-think you've wasted enough time for one day. Let's - Come on, let's go get these seeds," he said briskly, uncaring of Morty's incredulous expression at his words.

Morty couldn't believe the man. He'd almost been eaten by a giant bird-lizard, suffocated by tar and was covered in drying, black goo and he _still_ expected Morty to trek down a cliff to fetch his stupid Mega Seeds? He hadn't even asked the boy if he was okay. He'd spent more time checking to see if the grappling shoes still worked, using all the tar dissolvent on _them._ Morty was pissed.

"Y-y-you know what, R-Rick? I-I'm not going. I want you t-to take me home so I can get this stuff off me. I-I honestly can't believe you sometimes, why are you so _selfish_?!" Morty yelled. He was sick of it. Every time something happened to him, Rick never gave a shit. He didn't care about anyone but himself and Morty couldn't deal with that today. Not after what had just happened.

Rick turned around from where he had been walking away, ready to go find another cliff to scale. He raised one side of his eyebrow at Morty's outburst.

"Do-don't be ridiculous, Morty. You're coming and getting the seeds. What -ERRP- what was the point in bringing you here if you aren't go-going to be useful?" he asked, snidely.

Morty clenched his fist in anger before replying, "N-no Rick. I'm not going. I-If you want them so much then go get them yourself." With that, Morty trudged on ahead of Rick, starting to make his way back to the part of the forest they had come out from. He planned on making his way back to the ship and waiting for Rick there. The man could get the seeds by himself.

"Yeah, well… I-I didn't need you anyway, _Morty_! You'd probably - probably just fall down and break both your legs again anyway -ERRRRP-. I'm no-not giving you the keys to the ship either. You'll just have to stand outside and ho-hope you don't get eaten by Cuidryn Lizards, 'cause you'll have to save yourself -ERRP- this time, Morty!" Rick yelled after him. Morty ignored the man, knowing he was just trying to irritate him further. Finding the area he thought they'd come from, Morty made his way back into the forest.

Morty muttered angrily to himself as he walked. He was so sick of Rick telling him how useless he was. Rick wouldn't be able to do half the things he did without Morty there to help him. How many times had Morty saved his ass from Rick blowing them up with a neutrino bomb while he was passed out drunk in the ship or getting kicked out of the house by Jerry? I mean, that wasn't as impressive as most of the stuff Rick did, but it was necessary damage control and Rick could show a little gratitude. Not to even mention the fact that he was the man’s personal human cloaking device.

Stumbling over roots and vines, Morty admitted to himself that wandering off probably hadn't been the best idea. He'd just wanted to prove Rick wrong though and maybe make him respect Morty a little more. The scientist didn't entrust Morty with anything on their adventures and Morty hated it. No, he was fifteen years old and he shouldn't have to be babysat like a mindless child. He could wander off if he bloody well wanted to.

Morty looked around, not recognising anything. Worried he may be lost, Morty stopped walking and thought back to their walk here earlier, trying to remember anything that may help him find his way back. He really didn't need 'getting lost in a forest' to be added to his list of failures today. Not able to think of anything useful, Morty decided he'd just keep walking. It had taken them about half an hour to get through the forest the first time around, so Morty figured whichever way he went, it wouldn't take too long for him to get out of here. Lifting up one of his feet, Morty felt that something was wrapped around his leg, preventing him from stepping forward.

Heart falling at his own stupidity, Morty realised the vines had wrapped themselves around and up his legs while he had been standing there, thinking of how to find his way back _. Oh my god, not again…_

Reaching down and trying to pull the vines off his legs, Morty felt them tighten sharply at his touch. Frantic now, Morty tore at the organic plant matter with his fingernails, trying to tear them apart. After peeling off the first soft, green layer, Morty was confused to find metal wires making up the core of the vines. But, before he could process this anomaly any further, the mechanical vines shortened sharply, pulling him down to the forest floor.

Morty screamed as he felt himself being quickly pulled through the forest by the vines. They were winding their way further up his body while at the same time dragging him roughly over the uneven ground. Just as Morty was about to breathe in another lungful of air, the scared teen felt one of the vines slither its way up his jaw, wrapping itself over his mouth and around his head, gagging him.

Struggling to get enough air through his nose, Morty thrashed helplessly. He didn't know what these things were or where they were taking him but he knew Rick wasn't around to save him this time. Damn him and his need to be defiant, he should have just stayed with Rick and gotten over the man's attitude. At least until they had gotten home.

After what felt like forever, but was only a minute or so, Morty felt the vines stop dragging him and he tried to wriggle his way up into a sitting position. It took a few seconds, but he eventually managed to pull himself up and look around.

There was a large spacecraft taking up majority of the space in which looked to be a large clearing in the forest. Morty would have found himself impressed by the ship's design in any other situation, it did look very high tech. A slight movement to his right caught his attention and Morty swivelled his head towards the sound, a difficult feat considering he still had a vine wrapped around his face.

Another Morty stood a few feet away, looking down at him. Morty recognised the other Morty as the one who he'd met when Rick had been charged for crimes against Rick-kind. He recognised him, because he had never seen another Morty who wore an eyepatch before.

His counterpart had a gun pointed at his head and was staring at him, eyes alight with victory. Morty felt confused and more than a little scared, but he knew that Rick would save him. Ricks were always stronger than Morties, so this Morty stood no chance when Rick found him. And he would kind them, Morty truly believed that. Rick was a genius.

The other Morty pulled up one of his sleeves, revealing a control panel of some kind and pressed a button. Immediately the vines that were wrapped around Morty's body went limp, freeing the boy.

Morty breathed in deep gulps of air as the other Morty stepped closer, gun still raised, and gleefully said, "You're coming with me, C-137."


	2. Chapter 2

 

_\- Six months later -_

 

"Do you know how long you've been here, C-137"? _His_ voice asked, coming from the opened doorway. The words bounced off the walls before being swallowed up by the darkness in the nearly empty room. Silence met the question and the boy grew bored of waiting.

Stepping into the lightless room, Morty R-56 closed the door behind him and pressed a button on the wall next to it, illuminating the room with a harsh, sterile glow.

Huddled in the corner, so small you could almost miss him, was a boy. His clothes were ragged strips of material, barely covering his thin, shivering body and his scrawny knees were drawn up to his chest - for warmth or in defence, it was not certain. Arms wrapped tightly around his shins, the prisoner had his head bent down, face hidden from view.

Having seen this sight countless times by now, Morty R-56 wasn't surprised. His captive had broken so early on that there wasn't much fun the be had with him by this point. Striding forward, Evil Morty watched as the boy flinched, finally raising his head at the sound of the approaching footsteps. Blank eyes framed by dark smudges of fatigue watched him, showing no sign of fear of pain, even though he had to be feeling both of those things. It was ingrained in every fibre of the boy's being to fear his captor, he had made sure of that. But even still, it was rare to see the expression of those emotions anymore. It was rare to see any emotions from the boy.

Grasping the thin teen by the back of the neck with his left hand, Evil Morty pulled him up into a standing position. His prisoner was shorter than he was, now. One boy had grown over the past few months, having food and relatively little stress to hinder such development, while the other had not. Pushing his malnourished prisoner against the wall, the two teens looked at each other, one face expressing mild amusement, the other - nothing at all.

Sliding his hand from the back of the boy's neck and up to grasp his bony jaw, Evil Morty leaned in close and said, "You've been here six months, C-137. I know we've had such great fun, but I can't keep you here forever. So I've brought you a little something…"

Seemingly unconcerned with the fingers fanning over his neck, C-137 kept his mouth closed, unwilling to risk disrupting the direction he hoped his subjugator was going with this. _Please,_ he begged silently, for the first time in weeks.

Reaching his unoccupied right hand into his back pocket, Morty R-56 pulled out a syringe which was filled with clear liquid and held it up between each of their faces, allowing the helpless boy have a look. C-137 glanced at the needle, thankful it would at least be painless.

"I'm going to kill you now, C-137" the evil boy said, flicking the syringe tormentingly and watching for the boy's reaction.

Blank eyes briefly flickered to life, a fracture of emotion shining through for the first time in weeks. It was relief.

"Please," Morty C-137 said, out loud this time.

* * *

Rick Sanchez was sitting in his garage, which, six months ago, wouldn't have been an unusual sight. But at this point in time, it was. He avoided the place now as it was distracting and painful to sit there all alone. Too many memories, too many thoughts. But, there was no getting around it right now, so he tried to keep his thoughts on his work and his hands busy.

The scientist's portal gun had finally reached its limit and would now only produced transparent, fuzzy-looking portals, the likes of which Rick was hesitant to step through. He couldn't say he was surprised, it had been used more in the last six months than it had been since he'd invented it, and there had been no effort made in terms of maintenance.

Rick had come back all those months ago, with a sack full of Mega Seeds and his temper steeled to withstand a long fly home filled with Morty's incessant whining about his apparent mistreatment; but when he'd reached the ship, Morty was nowhere to be seen. Rick had assumed his irate grandson had wandered off or managed to get himself stuck in another tar pit on his way back to their landing site, but a thorough search of the area had revealed nothing. At that point, Rick had started to worry.

Hours tuned into days as Rick searched the entire planet, which was reasonably small, but eventually he'd had to accept that Morty was no longer there and that, since the boy had no way of getting of the planet, he had been taken by force. Someone had stolen his Morty.

The fury at that realisation had been immediate and unrelenting. He was pissed that someone dared to do this and angry at himself for letting it happen. It was that anger which let the crazed scientist hold it together and search for Morty for as long as he did before finally cracking. He'd been moving for weeks, scouring the galaxy for any sign of the boy, threatening anyone who seemed to know something that they weren't telling him. Unfortunately, none of these suspected kidnappers had any links to Morty's disappearance and Rick only managed to make more enemies than he's had the weeks prior.

A few weeks into his searching, he'd had to go home. He had been reluctant to waste any time, not knowing what was happening to Morty, but he had also been more exhausted than he'd ever felt in his too-long-a-life and he knew he needed to go home and re-group before he crashed and burned. He needed to stock up on supplies so he would be better prepared when he left again, hopping planet to planet, looking for any sign of Morty's whereabouts.

Rick had landed his spaceship in the driveway and opened the garage door before he'd realised that the family didn't even know what had happened. He'd been gone for weeks - him and Morty both. They likely thought them both dead.

It hadn't been a pleasant conversation, telling his daughter that he didn't know where her son was. Jerry had been furious, demanding Rick leave and never come back. Beth also been furious, but wouldn't let Jerry throw her father out. She said it was because he was the only one who had any chance of finding Morty, but everyone knew it was because she would never let Rick go. Not even after this. If Rick had the energy hen, he would have slapped her.

The family didn't see much of Rick after that. The man dropped by every few weeks and crashed, sleeping for days and only going down stairs to grab food and booze, which he brought back up to his bedroom. Eventually he had set up a new room inside the hatch so he could stay out of the house as much as possible. It wasn't much but he didn't care. The tension between him and the rest of the family had turned volatile now. He'd sleep and gather any equipment he might need, then he'd be off again.

It was only after four months of searching that Rick had admitted to himself that he was no longer looking for his grandson but was now hunting for his killers. He hadn't known exactly when he had given up all hope, but the realisation had been hard on him. He would never admit it, but he blamed himself. It was his fault Morty was gone and it was his fault he'd never been found. Life had never seemed so completely meaningless to him as it had after that.

So here Rick was, in his memory-haunted garage trying to be as quiet as possible so he wouldn't have to deal with his mourning family members, replacing worn-out parts of his portal gun, when he heard a noise from the driveway on the other side of the garage door. It sounded like the drag of footsteps followed by a dull thud on the concrete drive. He glanced at the metal door but decided he couldn't be bothered right now. Today had not been a good day, no one knew he was here and he wanted it to stay that way. If someone was going to try and murder the rest of the family… well, he wasn't meant to be here anyway. The sooner he got this piece of crap fixed, the sooner he could be out there do what he needed to do.

After a few minutes of quiet, Rick once again heard sounds coming from outside the garage. Very light scuffling noises were coming from outside on the cement again, only this time they didn't stop. Screwing the last component of the now-fixed portal gun back on, Rick ground his teeth irritably and grabbed his laser gun, striding over to the button on the wall which would lift the garage door. Pressing the button roughly, the irate man pointed his gun at the rising door, itching to kill whoever had disrupted his self-pitying silence.

As the door slowly lifted itself, Rick could see what looked to be a pile of rags and limbs twitching on the pavement. Lowering the gun, the man started to walk towards the unconscious figure, his body reacting before his sleep deprived mind could catch up. A few paces away, Rick stopped, looking down disbelievingly. It was Morty.

Brain finally catching up to speed, Rick knelt down quickly, grasping the boy by the shoulders and pulling his upper body off the ground. He looked like absolute shit, there was no other way of saying it. His hair was too long and looked thin and brittle. His eyes, although closed, were shadowed almost to black and his face was sunken and hollow. His limbs, still twitching slightly, were also too thin, as was the rest of his body. But worse than any of those things where the scars that marred majority of the flesh he could see. Slices, some old and some just healed, burns, at least one of which showed signs of an infection and bruises everywhere. When Rick lifted the young boy’s head up from the ground, it hung limply behind him. Rick didn't know if he was unconscious due to the damaged state of his body or if he had been drugged. So many things about this situation that were unknown, but one thing he was one-hundred percent certain of - whoever did this to his Morty was going to wish for death the way no one ever had before. 

* * *

Rick had carried Morty down into his hatch, laying him on his own bed, before he got to work. One thing he kept on hand at all times were a variety of medical supplies. They had come in handy more time than he could remember but he was never as grateful for them as he was at this moment.

First, he had to determine why the broken boy was unconscious. He had not woken up from the jerky movements of Rick carrying him down the hatch and the man was worried. He quickly climbed back up to the garage and came back with a device he'd made some years ago. Holding it so that the small machine had a clear shot at Morty, a blue light scanned his body before disappearing. A few seconds later the scientist had a comprehensive list of everything physically wrong with his grandson.

 

**Subject of Medical Scan:** Morty Smith C-137

**Physical Condition Report:**

Underweight,

Dehydrated,

Malnourished,

Low Core Body Temp.,

Partially Healed Fracture to Left Radius,

Unhealed Fracture to Right Sixth Rib,

Unhealed Fracture to Right Seventh Rib,

Excessive Scar Tissue,

Infected Wound Present on Lower Right Abdominal Area,

Infected Wound Present on Left Shoulder,

Nerve Damage - Undetermined,

Under Influence of Strong Sedative: Exact Type - Undetermined.

**Recommendations:**

Seek Immediate Medical Attention

 

After reading through the list of injuries, Rick threw the device at the shelves to his left, anger coursing through his veins. All his muscles were tensed at the thought of leaving this place and hunting down the scum who did this, but he knew he couldn't. Morty needed his help and he finally had the chance to give it. He wouldn't go, not yet.

Rick set to work, gathering all the medical supplies he would need. He set up an IV for fluids and nutrients, leaving Morty where he had been deposited on the bed. The boy didn't react to the injection, still sleeping off the sedative. Following that, Rick focused on addressing each of the symptoms from the list, one-by-one. A blanket to keep him warm; bone healing serum for his broken bones; there was nothing he could do about the scar tissue right now, he would have to work on that later; and strong anti-biotics for the infections. The nerve damage was more complicated - his scanner couldn't tell him much so he didn't know how to deal with that problem yet.

Eventually deciding he should go about cleaning the infected wounds from the list, Rick started cutting away at the ragged shirt Morty was wearing. He noticed it was the same shirt the boy had on the last time he saw him and Rick felt another surge of anger pulse through him. Clearly, they had treated him as if he were no more than an animal. Tossing the disgusting material aside, Rick looked over Morty's torso, his eyes snapping up to the boy's bony shoulder. Carved into the skin was the word 'TRAITOR', the area around the lines red and slightly swollen. Rick could tell the cuts had been re-opened many times, causing the infection. He stared at the word silently for a moment before taking an uncharacteristically shaky breath and reached over to his pile of supplies to grab some gauze. _Don't think about it yet. Just don't think._

Repeating these words to himself, the man cleaned the infected wound before covering it with a sterile dressing. He wouldn't think about it and he wouldn't look at it. Not yet. Moving onto the infected burn on the boy's abdomen, Rick wiped the area with a sterile saline solution. His thoughts were heading into dangerous territory and he needed to stop them now before they overtook his mind and he did something stupid, but they just wouldn't stop. He was going to gut whoever had wrote that on his Morty's skin. He was going to _destroy_ them.

A pained gasp suddenly broke through his murderous thoughts, causing his gaze to shoot up to Morty's face. He must have pressed too hard on the wound and he winced at having caused the boy even more pain. Looking down at Morty's face, Rick saw the boy's eyes flutter drowsily before blearily opening, their gaze eventually focusing on Rick's face.

The scientist was about to say something, trying to come up with some unfamiliar words of reassurance, but before he could, Morty's face morphed into an expression of absolute horror and he screamed.


	3. Chapter 3

Morty was roughly yanked out of his blissful state of unconsciousness and brought back into the pain that was his unwelcome and unrelenting reality. Someone was pressing harshly on the burn he'd received on his lower abdomen and it was sending waves of pain radiating throughout his torso. He gasped, trying to jerk his body away from the painful contact, but found his muscles to be uncooperative. Trying to pry open his eyes, Morty realised his whole body felt weird. He felt sluggish and disorientated and was unable to remember what had happened to him to cause this. He remembered the festering wounds on his shoulder and thought that maybe his body had finally decided to quit the fight and die. At least, he hoped that's what this was.

Managing to force his eyelids halfway open and keep them that way, Morty waited for his vision to stay focused long enough to see who had been hurting him. The pain had stopped with his gasp, which was odd, so he wanted to see who had been the cause. R-56 would have relished his reaction, not stopped because of it.

Eyes finally focusing, Morty blinked then stilled, feeling the blood drain out of his face. _No, no, no, please no…_

Morty screamed hoarsely and tried to drag himself backwards, away from the person in front of him. His body, still not cooperating, weakly thrashed on what seemed to be a bed, unable to move away. In the back of his mind Morty noted that, while his body felt heavy and unresponsive, he was only feeling minimal amounts of pain compared to what he had grown used to. It was disorientating.

"G-g-et - Get away fr-from me! _Stop it_!" he begged. He tried to yell but his voice came out sounding choked up and scratchy.

Morty couldn't cope with this. He couldn't go through this - not again. Unsolicited memories flooded his mind, reminding him of the last time he had seen this face. Rick's face.                                                                 

_Morty heard the door of his locked room click open and curled in on himself, bracing for the pain he knew would come. He was always greeted with some form of pain, it was the only certainty he had left but one he could never take comfort from. The boy had sustained a lot of injuries earlier that day and wanted to protect as much of his injured self as he could, though he knew it was a wasted effort. He had no way of properly protecting himself in here and certainly no way to fight back._

_"M-Morty!" a voice whispered suddenly, coming from the opened doorway._

_Morty's breath caught in his raw throat and he raised his head at the familiar address, tears of relief stinging his eyes. He'd found him. After weeks of torment, Rick had finally come to save him._

_"Rick!" Morty choked out, a little too loudly. The blue-haired scientist shushed him sharply, striding forward to grasp the injured boy under his arms and help him up from the floor, roughly. Morty hugged Rick desperately, briefly ignoring his injuries, unable to find the words to express his relief at seeing the man. "Please, pl-please get us out of here, Rick. Please!" Morty begged, tugging Rick's coat sleeve in the direction of the door, desperate to finally escape. Rick allowed himself to be dragged from the cell-like room, watching Morty with an expression of mild curiosity. The boy noted that the older man was remaining uncharacteristically quiet, but pushed the thought out of his mind, choosing to focus on where Rick was leading him instead._

_The two of them had fled down the hallway, Morty trailing Rick as the man confidently made his way through the maze of hallways and empty rooms. Suddenly though, they heard voices coming from around the corner at the end of hallway they were currently in. Panic flooded Morty, causing his body to freeze up instinctually. They were about to be caught and he would be thrown right back into his locked room, trapped again. Rick would be killed and Morty would never get the chance to try and escape again. Starting to hyperventilate, Morty felt himself suddenly yanked sideways, the movement nearly giving him a heart attack. Rick had pulled them both into a supply closet, clamping his hand over Morty's mouth to keep the scared boy quiet._

_The voices had stopped but Morty heard their footsteps grow louder as the people walked past their hiding spot. Thankfully, the footsteps eventually faded as they passed on by, none the wiser to the two fugitives hiding in the closet. Rick let go of Morty's mouth, bringing his finger up to his lips to remind the boy to stay silent. Morty nodded obediently, giving his grandpa a small smile. It was the first smile he'd given in over a month, and Rick smiled back, toothily. There was a glimmer in the grinning man's eyes as he looked down at Morty and its presence made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Morty supressed a shiver, trying to ignore his irrational solicitude._

_The two of them continued on down the hallway, Morty limping heavily by this point. He hoped they wouldn't have to run anymore as he didn't think he would be able to stay upright for very long if they did. His body was functioning at minimum capacity as he hadn't eaten properly for weeks now._

_Finally they reached what seemed to be a control room of some sort. Morty had no idea what anything was but Rick immediately went over to the control panels, pressing buttons and typing in new commands. Once the genius was finished he stalked back over to Morty, lips quirking at the boy's venerable expression toward him. Morty had been watching him, more than a little impressed._

_"I've -errrrp- reprogrammed the coordinates so that the sh-ship will exit the cloaking field it was stationed in. We-we'll be able to -errrp- portal back home then, Morty,"  he said, giving the young boy's hair a ruffle. Morty could have sobbed. It was all over. He was finally going home._

_But Morty had spoken too soon, it would seem, as just then the boy saw the control room door open, revealing Morty R-56. The boy froze and icy hand squeezed his heart, tauntingly. He tried to push the impending dread aside and looked at Rick, waiting for the man to spring into action and save them both, but his grandpa just stood there, watching Morty with that same glimmer in his eyes. Morty's breath caught and he suddenly didn't feel as safe standing next to the man as he'd felt a moment ago._

_"Thought you could escape, C-137?" His evil counterpart taunted, stepping further into the room. Morty's throat was closing in on itself and he was finding it hard to breathe. Eye's darting back and forth between Rick and his enemy, Morty didn't know what was happening. Why was Rick just standing there, watching him like that? What was he planning? He had to have a plan, right?_

_"Is this your Rick, C-137?" Evil Morty asked, smirking, "Are you sure it is?"_

_Morty felt his stomach sink and thought he might vomit, thoughts all clicking together at once. Turning slightly to face Rick fearfully, Morty watched as the man smiled, his eyes darking dangerously. Morty stumbled backwards, all hope leaving him as, right before his eyes, Rick's sallow skin began to ripple. His hair straightened out and grew longer, a familiar shade of orange bleeding through the blue. The horrified boy watched as Rick's body reformed itself into a shorter, curvier one; face morphing sickeningly into the exact image of his sister, Summer._

_"Hey, Morty," Summer drawled, smirking seductively. Evil Morty laughed; at Morty or the disgusting parody of his sister, it was uncertain._

_Contrarily, Morty sobbed, horrified by what he had just seen and collapsed to the ground. This wasn't Rick. It wasn't his sister either. Morty didn't know what this thing was but it watched Morty now with a predatory expression on its - Summer's - face._

_Morty felt the last shard of his broken heart shatter. He wasn't saved, he was never going home… this had just been another one of his evil master's games. Morty turned his haunted eyes to look at the boy, seeing his smug smirk and he knew, at that exact moment, that he was never getting out of here. And it was only then that he gave up._                                                                               

* * *

Rick watched as Morty thrashed on his bed, catching a few slurred words which he could make little sense of. The boy was starting to hyperventilate and had closed his eyes tight, refusing to look at him. Rick didn't know what to do. He'd seen Morty freak out a hundred times, but this was beyond 'freaking out', entirely. Whimpering pitifully, the boy managed to bring his hands up to his face and started to sob, still mumbling insane nonsense.

Rick stepped back, watching Morty's strange behaviour, worried. Clearly it was his presence which had set off Morty's episode, but that made no sense. Why should Morty be afraid of _him_? Had it been another Rick who had kidnapped his grandson? The possibility _infuriated_ him.

Grinding his teeth in frustration, Rick knelt back down next to the bed and grasped Morty's uninjured shoulder firmly. He felt the broken boy shudder at his touch, but eventually Morty opened his eyes and watched Rick fearfully, as if waiting for something horrible to occur. The troubled scientist pushed down the hurt he felt at receiving that look, knowing he needed to get Morty to calm down and trust him again. The urge to pull out his flask was intense but he ignored it.

Carefully, as if coaxing a frightened animal, he said, "Morty, it's okay. You're b-back home. It's okay now."

Morty watched Rick warily for a few moments before allowing his eyes to dart quickly around the inside of the hatch, always coming back to Rick though, to make sure he hadn't moved. Eventually, after Morty had taken note of his surroundings, Rick saw the boy's shoulders relax slightly as a look of confusion passed over his features. He was still tense, but he didn't look like he was about to pass out anymore, either. Rick let go of Morty's shoulder, leaning back slightly, trying to think of the most effective way he could find out what the fuck was going on.

Before he could say anything though, Morty said something which Rick actually caught this time, "… am I dead?" the boy asked quietly, looking at Rick confusedly.

Rick felt himself frown at the question, wondering why Morty would ask such a dumb thing. "No, _M-Morty_. You're not dead," he answered, unable to hold back the sarcasm completely. How many times did he have to tell this boy that there was no god, and so by default, no afterlife?

A brief look of disappointment flashed through Morty's eyes which made Rick's blood boil, but he managed to keep the feeling to himself. No need to scare the shit out of the boy now that he had finally calmed down a bit. Rubbing his face tiredly, Rick raised one half of his eyebrow at Morty, encouraging him to say something else. Anything.

"Wh-what - how did I get here?" Morty asked hesitantly, still looking unsure about the situation. Rick wondered if he was going to have to prove this wasn't a simulation or some shit.

Unsure of the answer to that question himself, Rick said, "I, uh, I found you in the d-driveway about an hour ago. What's the last thing you remember, M-Morty?" Finally, Rick was going to be able to find out what had happened, and more importantly, who had done this. He watched Morty expectantly, waiting for the boy to answer. But, averting his eyes uncomfortably, Morty dodged the question and started wriggling around again, trying to sit up. Rick watched as the boy struggled into a sitting position, wondering if he should have offered to help him. The old Rick wouldn't have, but he found he now had the urge to do so. He didn't act on the urge though.

Morty, who had finished repositioning himself with difficulty, turned back to the scientist, watching him with open suspicion now. Rick sighed, standing up suddenly.

"L-look, Morty, I don't have time for this shit. Clearly -errp-, clearly you don't trust me, so what do I have to - to do, huh?" the man snapped, glaring at his grandson. Morty looked away guiltily, not saying anything. Rick sighed, frustrated at losing his temper while even more frustrated at his continual feelings of frustration. Reaching into his lab coat suddenly, Rick grasped the familiar handle of his portal gun and tossed it onto his bed, next to Morty.

Morty looked at the device, eyes going wide. Hesitantly, he reached out for it, looking at Rick for approval. The impatient scientist nodded, encouraging him to just pick it up already. Eyes roving over it hungrily, Morty inspected the portal gun, trying to determine if it was a fake _. As if he could_ , Rick thought to himself, amused. Morty, finished with his inspection, put in a set of coordinates of which Rick noted were for the garage above them - the coordinates labelled 'home'.  The nervous boy pointed the gun towards the couch on the other side of the room, looking at Rick once more for permission. Receiving it, he pressed the trigger, producing a bright green portal next to Rick.

Morty looked at Rick expectantly, waiting for him to move. The man rolled his eyes at the boy, thinking of a hundred different ways this plan could fail for Morty, but stepped through the portal anyway, thinking that he should probably keep the flaws to himself. He wanted Morty to trust him and if this was all it took, then he was more than willing to do it. 

Stepping out into the garage above, Rick burped loudly, letting Morty know in the most obnoxious way possible that he was indeed the real Rick. Quickly making his way back underground, Rick opened the hatch door and climbed down the metal ladder.

Morty was looking stunned at Rick's casual return from the garage above. _The kid must have really thought it was all fake_ , the scientist mused to himself. His worry was quickly being replaced by an unfamiliar giddiness but he covered its presence with his usual snark, snatching the portal gun off Morty as he made his way passed the boy to sprawl out on the couch.

"Happy now, idiot? As I said, we're in the hatch and everything is _okay_ ," Rick said again, glancing over to the boy with feigned casualness.

Morty didn't answer right away and Rick thought maybe he was trying to come up with another test for him, but before he could say something snarky, Morty's face crumpled and he choked out a sob.

 _God damn it…_ Rick thought to himself, not knowing how to handle this situation. He was never good with emotions or dealing with damaged people. All the broken people he knew were the ones he'd left behind him.

Hauling himself to his feet, and feeling like an insensitive asshole, Rick walked the few paces from the ratty couch to the bed and sat down on the edge of it, springs groaning loudly. Sliding an arm around the boy's shoulders, he squeezed gently, hoping his touch wouldn't make things worse. He wasn't one for comfort, but he couldn't just let Morty suffer on his own. Not anymore.

“Shhh, Morty. Gr- Grandpa’s here.”

Morty, who had initially stiffened at the arm around his shoulders, relaxed at that and leaned into the contact. Rick took that as a sign he'd said the right thing and squeezed a little harder, hand rubbing slow circles over the boy's bare skin. _It's going to be okay soon_ , he thought to himself silently, listening to his grandson cry.

Morty was back, so everything would be okay now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I wrote absolutely nothing in this chapter but it has a longer word count than either of the other two. What's up with that, lol. Anyway, thank you all for the lovely comments and kudos! You're all awesome and I hope this chapter was okay. Oh and yes, I threw in that toxic Rick line because it still has me shook.


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